Dermatology: Specialty Clinic Update - Mohs Centre
Division of Dermatology
The Mohs Micrographic Surgery Centre at Women’s College Hospital is the largest dedicated complex skin cancer treatment unit in Canada. The centre treats over 4000 skin cancers per year, and manages patients from all reaches of Ontario and many from adjacent provinces. Three Mohs Surgeons work with a team of specialized nurses, administrative staff and histotechnologists to focus on providing patient-centered removal of facial skin cancers. Dr. An-Wen Chan, Dr. Christian Murray and Dr. Nowell Solish each train medical students, residents and clinical fellows.
Dr. Chan is also an epidemiologist with recognized expertise in clinical trial quality, biases, and methods. He has published extensively in leading medical journals, and chairs the international SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials) initiative to improve the quality of clinical trial protocols. He directs clinical care and research initiatives on skin cancer in organ transplant patients.
Dr. Murray directs the accredited fellowship in Mohs Surgery, that is only one of two Canadian programs recognized by the American College of Mohs Surgery. For the 2017-18 academic year there are two fellows, both of whom will graduate to lead new programs in Moncton, New Brunswick and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also chaired the multidisciplinary Cancer Care Ontario review of Mohs Surgery guidelines for the province of Ontario, and is a member of the Ontario guidelines group which publishes standards of care for melanoma management.
Dr. Solish is an international leader in aesthetic dermatologic surgery and is invited to lecture worldwide. He is a member of the Mohs Surgery Cancer Care Ontario guidelines team.
Topics on the horizon for the Mohs unit include several projects. First, the centre will work to establish a standard protocol for Mohs Surgery quality assessment for Ontario. Second, the team will pilot the use of staged excision with en face margin control under permanent section for dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans and extramammary paget’s disease. Third, the unit is considering a new clinical trial for a topical hedgehob inhibitor in Gorlin’s syndrome. In the past year our unit has published 11 papers on topics ranging from Melanoma, aesthetic dermatology, surgical techniques, clinical trial methodology, psychodermatology and transplant medicine.
